Welcome Back, Ewan McGregor

The Call Sheet sifts through the day's glut of Hollywood news to find the stories even non-industry types care about. Today: A '90s favorite lands a big new role, Caroline Rhea does too, and Aaron Sorkin mulls his next project.

Word comes today that Ewan McGregor has been cast as one of the leads on HBO's upcoming Brooklyn dream series The Corrections, the one created by Noah Baumbach based on the novel by Jonathan Franzen. Way to go, Ewan! Maybe this will put him back fron and center. Sure he's lately been doing well-received movies like Beginners and The Ghost Writer, but those were so small, such intelligentsia-niche movies. A big, splashy literate HBO series though? That's bigger time. Not Obi Wan big, but Ewan McGregor doesn't want to be that big. Not again. That went bad enough the first time. But yeah, HBO big? That's good big! It seems unlikely that the pilot won't go to series, so let's just say congratulations to old Mr. Trainspotting. Good to see you again. [Deadline]

Uh oh. Aaron Sorkin says he's strongly considering writing a Steve Jobs biopic, which Sony has asked him to do. That just might be a bit too slick, don't you think? Aaron Sorkin's walk-and-talks and sleek Apple products together in the same movie? The spot where those two converge on the Venn diagram basically represents Starbucks' entire clientele. Just to dilute the whole thing they should get Diablo Cody to write the Jobs thing and Aaron Sorkin should go write the next Transformers movie. Just to keep things even, y'know? [THR]

Here is a trailer for the new Ed Burns movie Newlyweds and you know what? It actually looks kind of charming. I mean, the guy used to make decent movies back in the heady early indie days of the 1990s. Brothers McMullen and She's the One, at least. So yeah, this looks watchable in a wait-for-Netflix-instant-watch kind of way.

NBC has ordered a pilot of Sarah Silverman's new show, which is loosely based on her own life. Uh oh! Better watch out, Whitney Cummings. Not only is Emily Nussbaum coming for ya, but now Sarah Silverman is too. There can't be two dark-haired, acerbic comediennes talking about their lives on one network! Not if they're ladies, at least! Jerry Seinfeld and Paul Reiser? Sure, why the hell not. But if they'd had vaginas -- if literally they had been exactly the same, bad jeans and mullets and all, just with vaginas -- it never would have flown. That's just the way this biz works. [Deadline]

Here is someone wondering about whether How I Met Your Mother has turned too dramatic. Hm. Wondering about whether How I Met Your Mother has gotten too dramatic is like wondering about whether a donkey is being passive-aggressive towards you. It implies that the thing is capable of something that it's just not capable of. No, the donkey is not shaming you, it is just a donkey thinking about donkey things (donkey wishes, donkey dreams). And no, How I Met Your Mother has not gotten too dramatic, it has simply started curling up into the dead spider ball of desiccation that it was always going to. They've run out of jokes, so they're going for the heartstrings. And yet still, nobody has met anybody's mother. Not one mother anywhere in sight. Unless it's Coby Smilders' or whoever's baby that Bob Saget's been talking about this whole time. "And that's when I met your mother. Inside Cubby Sminkers' tummy." That would be kind of exciting! "No wonder mom's so young! Mystery solved. Onto the next mystery: Why did you sound like Josh Radnor fifteen years ago but now you sound like Bob Saget? Was there some sort of accident?" And then that whole thing gets answered in the spin-off series, How I Became a Spirit Jumper and Left My Body and Entered Bob Saget's. [EW]

Oho, speaking of welcoming actors back, Caroline Rhea is returning! She's been cast in Nathan Lane's new USA comedy pilot, about a washed-up actor. Rhea will play Lane's sister, which we guess means Lane is playing Aunt Zelda? Because obviously Caroline Rhea is only ever allowed to play Aunt Hilda, even on The Biggest Loser she was Aunt Hilda (why didn't she just use her magic to make everyone skinny?), so if Nathan Lane is playing her sister, heretofore, recommhence, four score and seven, Nathan Lane is playing Aunt Zelda. What, was Beth Broderick busy? Something tells us that probably wasn't the case. Anyway, good for Caroline Rhea. Can't wait to see who's playing Salem! [Deadline]

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